ACE CTE FAQ
General Question:
●As a new ACE teacher, I’m curious about why was there a need to “re-design?”
○The re-design was brought about by a finding over a number of consecutive years within the leadership of CCCS/CTE. This finding included the following: ACE programs were being used for credit recovery only. ACE programs were not providing technical skill attainment. ACE programs were not effectively serving students identified as Special Populations (per Perkins definition).
Working Definition:
- Will Perkins funding support programs that serve students outside the federal definition of special populations?
○Each CTE student is supported by Perkins funded CTE programs.
○ACE programs can serve all students enrolled. It is not restrictive to only special pops students. Perkins funds can be used to support any approved program that has a credentialed teacher in place.
- How will ACE students be identified?
○At the state level, we follow Perkins Definition for students identified as Special Populations. We entrust that the local level is thoughtfully identifying students who are best fit and will best benefit from ACE programming.
○Local control dictates who an ACE student is based off of state guidance.
○Any student enrolled in the ACE courses will be counted in the data for that program regardless of their meeting special pops criteria. ACE programs are open to all students in the district who can benefit from additional support in their CTE work.
- Is ACE operating in conjunction with or separate from other CTE programs when providing industry credentials?
○The new pathway: ACE Career Cluster Based is intended to be collaborative (or work in conjunction with) other CTE content areas to provide technical skill attainment. Developmentally, some ACE students will be able to access and obtain industry credentials through this technical skill attainment in a co-enrolled CTE content program.
○If a student who is engaged in work based learning has sufficient knowledge and skill for industry certification then they should attempt to obtain the certification.
- How do we provide technical skills if we are the only CTE teacher in the school?
○CTE pedagogy, practice, standards and competencies all reflect technical skill attainment. If there is one CTE program then that program is expected to supply technical skill attainment to the best of their ability. If guidance on how to do this is a need, please reach out to the program directors at CCCS/CTE. If you only have one CTE program, this would be permission to have the conversation with school leadership on how to best move forward with expanding CTE options for your student body & community.
- What constitutes an individual training plan?
○An individual training plan is used to outline the specific job/technical skills and/or project parameters that a student will learn or complete during a work-based learning experience. This plan should be developed at the beginning of the work experience. The training plan lists student name, work site name, the time-frame and outcomes for the work-based learning experience. The job/technical skills listed in the training should be included in the employer evaluation to be completed at the end of the work-based learning experience.
- Who reads and creates an individual training plan?
○A training plan is created collaboratively by the ACE Teacher, Work site supervisor, and Student. The training plan should include projects and/or skills directly related to a student's career goal.
- What does “including” mean?
○ACE CTE programming is inclusive. Students identified as Special Populations are limited to ELL, disability, non-trad, economically disadvantaged, teen parent & foster youth, ACE is CTE program available to all CTE students in addition to the list above.
Fact Sheet for Administrators:
●Conditional Status of programs is not considered punitive for who?
○The ‘conditional status’ for programs submitting a program approval for the first time, renewing or revising will receive this status. It is in place of an official approval or denial. It is simply a placeholder until the 2018-2019 school year when we begin pilot implementation. For those reporting on Program Approvals, this status is sometimes not well received. We assure you that this will not be a negative mark on a school or school district to have ‘conditional programming. Teachers most often don’t know of this status. Most CTE Directors and those who submit Program Approvals are accountable.
○When a one year conditional is given to a renewing program there is an explanation of the reason for this as it relates to the ACE renewal. This language explains that the conditional approval is not because of any wrong doing, just a transition process to the new programs under a new CIP
●How will Conditional Approval be presented as “non-punitive” to administrators & principals?
○See above. Also, every program approval submitted, revised, edited will contain a response to leadership that informs them of this status and the reasoning behind it.
●What type of student would benefit from ACE programming?
○The essence of ACE teachers, ACE CTE programming and the culture of the school answer this question. We recommend considering students who would benefit from some developmentally appropriate life, career and academic skill and knowledge attainment. We would also recommend ACE CTE for students who learn differently, aside from a classroom setting. We would further recommend ACE CTE for students who would benefit from learning supports, social-emotional learning and individualization of content delivery.
●How does a CTE student become an ACE student?
○Enroll in an ACE CTE course or sequence of courses!
●Where is the technical skill delivered?
○Technical Skill should be delivered in all CTE programs. ACE CTE is no exception. In the new proposed pathway sequence, ACE Career-Cluster based and ACE Specialized have the greatest possibility of delivering quality technical skills to students enrolled in those sequences. ACE Core also is able to deliver technical skill attainment; however, due to the individualization and developmental needs of the students, the variety of how this is delivered will be left up to local entities to determine.
○The ideal location for technical content delivery is from the CTE course that resides in the content cluster. In cases where there is no CTE program available in the student’s career area then the ACE program can provide some basic technical content through individual classroom work or work based learning.
●What are approved CTE ACE courses -- where can we access standards/curriculum related to these courses?
○ACE CTE standards mirror the Postsecondary Workforce Readiness (PWR) competencies and the Essential Skills (ESSKs) – soon to be Career Ready Practices (CRPs). Find these alignments here:
○The ACE Board via the annual ACE Teacher Conference offers guidance on recommended standards and curriculum that meet or exceed the approved courses. Expansion on this recommendation is expected through and past 2020.
○Note the latest crosswalk for Colorado Essential Skills (PWR skills):
CTE ACE Teacher Endorsement:
●Does the ACE board review exception to experience meet regularly to approve/disapprove?
○All CTE Credential/Endorsement exceptions are reviewed by a review board made up of statewide CTE stakeholders. This board meets monthly. If there are questions on an applicant, the first one to get the question is the CTE Program Director and then, if not answerable, the ACE Board will be soliciting for insight.
●What is the wait time on an endorsement?
○This varies as our process is still part of CDE licensing department. On average we see as quick as one day to as long as 6 weeks or more.
●What if I already have a CTE endorsement in Business and Marketing and just want to add ACE, is there a different form?
○No. If an applicant wants/needs an ACE CTE Endorsement, then this form and the requirements therein need to be met.
●What if I already have to old endorsement form filled out to submit?
○The new endorsement form will be posted by August 2017. If you have the old one, submit it prior to Aug 1, 2017. All submissions after August 1, 2017 will be accountable to the new form.
●Can volunteer hours count toward the endorsement?
○When completing the Related Occupation Form, there is a section for volunteer hours accrued.
ACE Infographic:
Questions
●Can we make this poster sized?
○Absolutely! We’ll ensure that we create a file that will support a quality poster image.
●What are Career Readiness Practice standards and where can I find them?
○Career Ready Practices are the new ESS standards developed as part of the national Common Career Technical Core. Most likely these will be adopted in place of ESS when Colorado revises CTE standards this coming year. You can view the CCTC at
●A version of Career Ready Practices with performance indicators and sample measurements can be found at
ACE ReDesign Pathways + Course Title Sequences
Questions
●Will new program implementations be supported differently from those existing that will transition in 2019 - 2020?
○A full cadre of supports will be in place for districts, teachers, counselors, administrators and other staff beginning Fall 2017 into the end of 2020 school year. Based on the needs at the local level, the CCCS/CTE relevant staff will respond and provide.
●How do I label my classes by semester if we teach some of this all year long in ACE 1: career development, interpersonal skills, job readiness & personal finance?
○We will have to work through all the situations for course title / length and their application at the local level. Now that the framework has been decided we will focus on the implementation of the courses and pathways at the local level. Stick with us and we’ll work through these details.
●For ACE Specialized: does this include students who are involved in internships?
○Correct. ACE Specialized is intended for students engaged in the upper spectrum of work-based learning. This includes internships, co-ops, school based enterprises, mentorships, externships, apprenticeships and full/part time employment.
●Do we guide students through evaluations & PWR activities in these courses?
○Not sure what is meant by evaluations. PWR activities are intended to be integrated into ACE CTE pedagogy, curriculum, outcomes and expectations. There are many promising practices statewide and more forthcoming.
CTE ACE ReDesign Course Titles with Descriptions:
●The course names on our approval DO NOT have to match what is on the student transcript?
○If the expenses for delivery of an ACE course is to be eligible for CTA reimbursement then the course title on the transcript must match that on the program approval.
●Why do you NOT consider financial literacy a technical skill? What if that is their industry pursuit?
○Not sure what this question is asking. Financial literacy would be acceptable content in several of the ACE courses that are listed, especially personal ….
●Does the CTE ACE completion rate work with other programs also?
○Any course in an approved CTE program can be added to other program approvals and counted in either program.
●Can a business student take an ACE class for completer?
○Only if the business program had added the ACE program to their program approval. Not sure why they would want to do this though.
CTE ACE Program of Study Examples & Template
Questions
●Do we need to have a POS for each student (cluster) choice like welding, auto, culinary, building trades and core?
○By regulations, each district/BOCES receiving Perkins funding should have at least one completed POS on record. Inevitably, each approved CTE program in Colorado should have at least one completed POS per program. We recommend class instructors leverage the completed POS for their program to engage students in using it as their individual POS. In ACE, since many students will be taking a variety of courses, their POS’s will look very individualized. If a student takes any of the areas listed in this question, the POS will reflect that.
○If the ACE program is supporting students in other CTE programs in the school then a POS from that technical program can be revised to include the ACE courses that a student would take while also enrolled in the other CTE program. This would meet the expectations for POS for the program and also provide the ACE student a clear illustration of the courses they should pursue.
●Can we choose a few courses for each semester or just one?
○This is more of a local control determination. We recommend choosing from the course title recommended list – which will eventually be the options in a program approval – and sequence them out as you see best fit for your school community, master schedule and student developmental need.
1